State of the Art: U.S. Fighters at the Dawn of World War II
Aviation Aftermarket Defense
As the first enemy planes passed overhead at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the dry statistics of aircraft inventories and procurement proposals took on an unprecedented immediacy for service personnel stationed at the sprawling U.S. naval base below. Thoughts that turned first to the prospect of getting planes in the air would, within a few short hours, be transformed by the events of the day into plans for securing and repairing whatever aircraft — or aircraft parts — might be salvaged for later use.
A Moment in Time
By the time of the attack that precipitated U.S. entry into World War II, America’s military was already undergoing major expansion. However, even with the spur of war, the manufacture of massive numbers of aircraft would take time. In the interim, those fighters that were already in service assumed a vital role in the American war effort.
At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Hawaiian Air Force had an estimated 227 military aircraft at its disposal, 152 of which were fighters. The fighter force consisted of ninety-nine Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, thirty-nine Curtiss P-36 Hawks, and fourteen Boeing P-26 “Peashooters.”
In the chaos of the Pearl Harbor attack, U.S. pilots were able to get a small number of Warhawks and Hawks into the air. They fought valiantly, downing nearly a dozen of the hundreds of Japanese aircraft that were attacking the base.
A Mixed Fleet
At that time, the P-40 Warhawk was the primary fighter of the U.S. Army Air Forces. It would continue as a frontline workhorse for U.S. and Allied forces for the duration of the war.
Decked out in its iconic shark face war paint, the P-40 was first used in combat by British Royal Air Force units in Africa in mid-1941. The fighter also achieved lasting popular recognition from its association with the “Flying Tigers,” the nickname given to the 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force.
The Warhawk was based on the P-36 Hawk, and it had replaced most of the earlier model in the U.S. fleet. The P-36 had already amassed the bulk of its World War II experience in the service of the French Air Force in 1940, where it faced the onslaught of Germany’s invasion during the Battle of France.
The least of the fleet, the humble P-26 had been flying since 1932. It had been an innovation in its day, as the first U.S. fighter made entirely of metal. But with its open cockpit, fixed landing gear, and wire-braced wings, the Peashooter was a virtual museum piece by 1941.
Emphasis on Versatility
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was perhaps the most prominent member of the U.S. fighter arsenal at the time of America’s entry into the war. The durable fighter was prized for its versatility and range.
Easily distinguished in flight by its twin booms, which bookended its cockpit, the P-38 delivered superior speed and climb rate compared to other U.S. fighters of its generation. Pilots also appreciated the craft’s dual engines, which enabled them to keep flying even if one of the engines was damaged in combat or otherwise failed. In the Pacific, the superior range of the P-38 (1,300 miles versus 650 miles for the P-40) and armaments (including a 20mm Hispano-Suiza cannon) led to it gradually replacing the P-40 as a long-range fighter.
Finding a Niche
The Bell P-39 Airacobra had the distinction of having been specifically designed to accommodate a particular weapon system. Bell’s engineering team conceived the P-39 in 1937 as a high-altitude fighter that would incorporate the 37mm Oldsmobile T9 cannon, in accordance with a U.S. Army directive.
The heavy cannon, which had to be mounted in the centerline of the aircraft, dictated the layout and structural design of the P-39. The resulting compromises in range and rate of climb ended up limiting the aircraft’s use as a high-altitude fighter, but it performed well in short-range missions at lower altitudes.
The Soviet Air Force made extensive use of the Airacobra. In total, the Russians acquired nearly 5,000 of the model over the course of the war, almost half of the airframe’s entire production run.
The Competitors
Grumman’s F4F Wildcat and Brewster’s F2A Buffalo shared a complicated history, as their manufacturers battled each other in the 1930s to produce the U.S. Navy’s first monoplane fighter.
The F2A won the initial competition, when it beat out an early version of what would become the F4F. But production of the Buffalo was plagued by delays. The first F2As entered service with the U.S. Navy in June 1939, but only five of the Navy’s initial order for fifty-four aircraft had been delivered by November of that year. Plus, modifications designed to increase the aircraft’s combat suitability also increased its weight and decreased its maneuverability.
Grumman, meanwhile, continued to develop its fighter. The F4F entered service with the U.S. Navy in 1940.
The two aircraft were flown together in combat for the first and only time in June 1942 at the Battle of Midway, by U.S. Marine Corps fighter group VMF-221.
The real-world competition produced a clear winner. The superior performance of the F4F helped to establish the Wildcat as the fighter of choice for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. The F2A suffered greatly in comparison - so much so that the Buffalo was removed from combat duty entirely, and relegated to a training role on the U.S. mainland for the rest of the war.
References:
John Costello. The Pacific War: 1941–1945. New York: Rawson Wade, 1981.
Daniel Ford. The Sorry Saga of the Brewster Buffalo. Amazon/Warbird Books, 2014.
Walter Lord. Day of Infamy. New York: Bantam Pathfinder, 1983.
Carl Molesworth. P-40 Warhawk Aces of the Pacific. Oxford: Osprey, 2003.
Gordon W. Prange, with Donald Goldstein and Katherine Dillon. At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. New
York: Mcgraw-Hill, 1981.
Craig L. Symonds. The Battle of Midway. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013.
John Toland. Infamy: Pearl Harbor and Its Aftermath. New York: Berkley, 1983.
U.S. Air Force Fact Sheets. (nationalmuseum.af.mil)
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Aviation Aftermarket Defense, Summer, 2016
(Preprint version)